Earthwatch volunteers set out to observe beaked whales off of Abaco Island.
Diane Claridge on the lookout for marine mammals in the Great Bahamas Canyon, where she and Ken Balcomb studied the beaked whale population from 1991-2000, and where she continues to conduct research.
Ken Balcomb on Porch in Smugglers Cove, San Juan Island, Washington. He has conducted an annual summer survey of the resident orca community since 1976.
Cuvier’s beaked whales dive to depths of greater than a mile for more than an hour at a time, surfacing only briefly to breathe. Individual Cuvier’s beaked whales can be identified by the scratches on their backs and dorsal fins from mating competitions.
Blainville’s beaked whales are smaller than Cuvier’s, but have similar diving and hunting behaviors. The “beak” refers to the rostrum or snout of the whale which is elongated rather than blunt-headed. Individual identification, once considered impossible, is facilitated by the light oval scars from the bites of cookie-cutter sharks.
Blainville’s beaked whale that stranded in the lagoon behind Cross Harbor, 16 March 2000. Subsquent necropy and CT scans revealed subarachnoid hemorrhage and blood in cochlear aqueduct.
Earthwatch team and neighbors with second stranded Cuvier’s beaked whale at Rockt Point. March 15, 2000.
Dave Ellifrit with Blainville’s beaked whale that stranded at Cross Harbor. March 16, 2000.
Balcomb cutting off head of Blainville’s beaked whale at Cross Harbor to preserve an evidence trail of the mass stranding.
Jim Mead, left, at the Osteo-Prep lab at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in 2002, dissects a narwhal whale specimen with Ted Cranford or San Diego State University and Martin Nweeia.
Ken Balcomb’s family in 1942: (left to right) his uncles Douglas and Edward Balcomb, his grandmother Katherine, Ken at age one and a half, his father Kenneth, Jr. (known as “Blue”), his grandfather Kenneth, Sr., and uncle Robert.
Ken, on left with half-brothers Howie and Rick Garrett in 1948.
Barbara Balcomb Bales, Ken’s mother, in her days as a piano bar singer.
Ken’s father, Kenneth “Blue” Balcomb, Jr.
During Balcomb’s first whale-tagging trip aboard the Lynnann in January, 1964. From left to right: Captain Bud Newton, Engineer John Dietrich, Dr. Masaharu Nishiwaki, Cook Bob Young, Dale W. Rice (Expedition Leader), Crewman Ernesto Gonzales, and Ken Balcomb.
Aboard the Lynnann, armed with whale-tagging shotgun and camera.
Bird banding on Hull Island in North Pacific, 1966.
While bird banding on Swain's Island near American Samoa, 1966.
Ken’s second wife, Julie, pining on his naval aviator “wings” after graduation from flight school in August 1968 in Corpus Christi, TX.
Lieutenant Balcomb with son, Kelley, during visit on Midway Island, the Pacific, in 1970.
Hitchhiking with half-brother Howie Garrett (on left) on Highway 101 along Washington coastline in summer 1972.
Beachombing for whale bones with his dog, Wizarella in 1972.
The Regina Maris under sail in April 1979 off Magdalena Bay, Baja California, Mexico. Balcomb was chief scientist on this research ship for twelve winters from 1976 to 1988.
Diane conching during camping trip to Schooner Cay, Bahamas, February 1991.
Diane and Ken in Lichtenstein for her sister’s wedding in 1993.
Joel Reynolds in his 20s, preparing to play in string quartet with his sister, Martha, and father, Bill Reynolds.
Joel Reynolds graduating from Columbia Law School in May 1978 (with classmate Roger Morie)
Reynolds with his son, Sam, in 1992, two years after he joined NRDC.
Reynolds in 1994, when he first sued the US Navy and blocked its explosives testing in the waters adjacent to Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary off the California coast.
March 1997 at Laguna San Ignacio, Baja California, Mexico, with Pierce Brosnan during campaign to block proposed salt works project planned at site of gray whale nursery.
With his son, Sam, greeting “friendly” Pacific gray whale in Laguna San Ignacio.
With his son, Sam, greeting “friendly” Pacific gray whale in Laguna San Ignacio.
With his son, Sam, greeting “friendly” Pacific gray whale in Laguna San Ignacio.
Four of the 14 beaked whales that stranded on Canary Islands during NATO sonar training exercises on September 24, 2002.
Severed beaked whale heads awaiting dissection at Veterinary School of the University of Las Palmas, Canary Islands. September 2002.
Orca from L Pod breaching in Smugglers Cove, San Juan Island, Washington.
Another orca from L pod
Alternate orca
May 5th, 2003. Smuggler’s Cove, San Juan Island, Washington. Ken Balcomb photographs and videotapes the guided missile destroyer USS Shoup as it conducts a sonar sweep of Haro Strait. In foreground: whale watching vessels and orcas of J Pod.
Reynolds at UC Riverside Distinguished Alumni Award ceremony in Spring 2007.
At Tejon Ranch, Lebec, CA, Reynolds announces agreement he negotiated with the ranch and state of California to preserve 90% of 270,000-acre Tejon Ranch – with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in background. 2008.
Being interviewed by Nina Totenberg on steps of US Supreme Court following oral arguments in sonar case. November 8, 2008
Reynolds and Balcomb at Smugglers Cove, San Juan Island, WA in September 2013.
Ken Balcomb on deck of his house and headquarters of Center for Whale Research, Smugglers Cove, San Juan Island, WA in 2010.
